


Tea or Coffee?

by Winterling42



Series: Ravnica Days [1]
Category: Magic: The Gathering
Genre: Canon Related, Eldrazi-based misunderstandings, First Meetings, Gen, M/M, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-13
Updated: 2016-09-13
Packaged: 2018-08-14 18:52:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8025139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Winterling42/pseuds/Winterling42
Summary: The Gatewatch spent three months on Ravnica before plot-important things started happening again. This is one day from those three months.Ral is not happy that the Guildpact 'ran away.' Nissa just happens to be taking tea in the room outside their argument, and stands up for her friend.





	Tea or Coffee?

Ral stalked out of Jace’s office with sparks flying from his fingers. That insufferable mind mage. Jumped up sonofabitch imposter telepath. Like he’d needed another boost to his swollen ego, going on and on about this ‘gatewatch’.

“Would you like some tea?”

The quiet voice startled Ral out of his train of thought, and the sparks around his hands went out. There was an elf hiding in a corner of the library, a steaming teapot and two cups sitting on the table next to her.

The bold green markings on her face said she wasn’t Ravnican. One of the Gatewatch, then. Hadn’t Jace mentioned an elf?

“I really prefer coffee –“ Ral started stiffly, but the elf only smiled and poured from a small press on her tray. Ral, in no mood to be polite, gritted his teeth as he walked over.

“You’re friends with Jace?” She didn’t quite _ask_ , but she wasn’t quite _telling_ either. Ral took a swallow of his coffee, resenting how good it was. It was too hot to drink, really, but this wouldn’t be the first time he’d burned his mouth on a drink, impatient to get back to his projects.

“I wouldn’t call us friends,” he grumbled.

“I know he’s been gone for a long time.” _Nissa_ , that was her name. Zendikari. “But believe me when I say we would not be here without his help.”

“Yeah, he told me all about it.” Ral snorted. It wasn’t that he thought Jace was lying. It was that, for Ral, it hadn’t been a good enough excuse. “Eldrazi, Innistrad, hedrons. Some old dragon planeswalker.”

“You don’t approve.” This time she _was_ telling him. But unlike Jace, whose every word set him on edge, there was something about her that smoothed out the flashes of his anger and annoyance. Ral only sighed and tapped his fingers around the edges of his cup.

“You’re from Zendikar, right?”

Nissa nodded, taking a sip of her own tea.

“Then you should know what it means to put your own world first.”

“I don’t think you understand.” Nissa’s voice was suddenly hard. In the dim light of the library, her eyes took on a greenish gleam. The books next to her rustled, and one went so far as to send a green leaf poking out of its binding. “By saving Zendikar, Jace _was_ putting Ravnica first. The Eldrazi would not have stopped, not there and not on Innistrad. Trust me, Ral Zarek, you are glad your world was not touched by the Eldrazi.”

Ral, whose mouth had been full of coffee at the moment, tried swallowing too much and had to stifle his coughing. He didn’t want to spray coffee all over her. Nissa. Jace had shown him some of the devastation at Seagate. He had only to imagine those white lattices over the towers of Ravnica, the shining corruption crumbling guild halls to dust.

He didn’t want to let Jace off the hook. But he was glad the Eldrazi had not come to Ravnica.

“You’re not going to ask me to join your with your merry band of misfits, are you?”

“That’s more of Gideon’s thing,” Nissa said with a small smile. “If you visit often enough I’m sure you’ll meet him.”

Gideon. That was the one Lightning Bug had been tracking, back when Ral had first asked Jace for help. Ral swirled the dregs of his coffee around once or twice and drank it down, straining the fine grains between his teeth. “I don’t know about visiting. I only came to yell at Jace.”

Nissa smiled again behind her teacup, the green fading from her eyes. “I’ll see you soon, Ral.”

The Izzet mage scowled, but it was half-hearted at best. “Don’t count on it.”

**Author's Note:**

> thank tumblr user [@elspethsunschampion](http://elspethsunschampion.tumblr.com/) for reminding me that Ral Zarek is a character and that zeleren is a real thing that has happened. definitely.
> 
> join me on [tumblr!](hoard-smelter.tumblr.com)


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